La Crosse, WI – There was another spark that flickered immediately for the Rox. This time it was not given to them through walks or errors. Ricky Ramirez (McNeese State) found his sweet swing as he blasted a solo home run to lead off the ball game in the top of the first inning. Unfortunately, the home run bug from the Loggers transferred over from Thursday and the St. Cloud Rox (0-4) fell 8-3 to the La Crosse Loggers (2-2) at Copeland Park.

Chris Kwitzer (Buffalo) battled in a tough at bat and worked a walk with no outs following the Ramirez homer and Ben Peterson followed that up with a scorched double down the left field line. This set up St. Cloud in good position with runners at second and third base. Luke Ringhofer (South Dakota State) collected his first two RBI’s with the Rox this season after his single that bounced up the middle. St. Cloud, just like Thursday, leaped out to a 3-0 after the first inning.

La Crosse bounced back in the third inning in large part due to one fielding and one throwing error from St. Cloud. The Loggers scored three runs to tie the game at 3-3, despite only recording two hits in the frame

RHP Quinten Sefcik (Illinois) made his first start for the Rox tonight and started off on the right foot. The redshirt freshman did not allow a hit through the first three innings. Sefcik finished with 60 pitches, 3 innings, 3 runs (1 earned), and walked 2 batters.

The St. Cloud bullpen faced trouble once Sefcik departed from the contest. Malcolm Grady was summoned on in the fourth inning and he surrendered a three-run homer. The offense for La Crosse resumed in the fifth inning when Collin Strall (LSU) came out of the bullpen. Strall let up a two-run home run and after five frames the Rox trailed the Loggers 8-3.

Malcolm Grady (0-1) was tagged with the loss in relief and Jonathan Teaney (1-0) earned the victory. 

On Saturday, St. Cloud will host Thunder Bay for the first home game of the season at Joe Faber Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm. The Rock Solid Pregame Warmup starts at 6:35pm on 1390thefan.com and 1390 AM. 

Tonight’s St. Cloud Times Player of the Game is Ricky Ramirez (McNeese State). Ramirez registered his second home run of the season. For more coverage of the Rox during the 2016 season visit www.sctimes.com.

For more stats and information about tonight’s game, here is the boxscore:

http://northwoods.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=316641

Single game tickets can be purchased 24 hours a day at www.stcloudrox.com, by calling (320) 240-9798 or by visiting the Rox ticket office located at the Municipal Athletic Complex.

It’s opening week in Minnesota in the Northwoods League presented by Minnesota College Savings Plan.

The Minnesota College Savings Plan, is Minnesota’s official 529 college savings plan. It takes just $25 to start, making it easier for families to save for higher education expenses. Funds saved can be used at colleges, technical schools and grad schools nationwide to cover the cost of tuition, as well as books, supplies and other qualified expenses. Additionally, SavingforCollege.comrecently ranked the Minnesota College Savings Plan as one of the nation’s top performing direct sold 529 plans. Find out more at www.mnsaves.org

The St. Cloud Rox are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 23^rd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2016, the Northwoods League is the largest summer collegiate baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (OAK). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website.  For more information, visit www.stcloudrox.com.